Inland supervisor post goes to ex-aide
The San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors named Brad Mitzelfelt on Wednesday to fill the 1st District supervisor’s post vacated by former Chairman Bill Postmus.
Mitzelfelt, who was Postmus’ chief of staff, will represent Barstow, Victorville and much of the high desert. Postmus, elected county assessor in November, was sworn into office Monday.
Mitzelfelt received the nod on a 3-1 vote from the supervisors, said county spokesman David Wert. Supervisor Dennis Hansberger was the lone vote against the appointment.
Hansberger said that he was skeptical of voting for Mitzelfelt because of his connection with Postmus, who was dogged with rumors of unethical behavior during his tenure.
“Our county has been shadowed by an unfortunate past in which we’ve had elected officials behaving in ways that embarrassed the county,” he said. “Some people Brad was working for were part of that. Although he didn’t personally do it, he was part of their team.”
Mitzelfelt said public safety would be among his priorities and would work to ensure that officials respond promptly to emergency situations.
He will serve the remaining two years of Postmus’ term. He said he had not decided if he would run for the following term.
Mitzelfelt lives in Wrightwood and earned a bachelor’s degree in business and management from the University of Redlands. He served in the U.S. Marine Corps in operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm in the Middle East.
Before working for Postmus, Mitzelfelt was a policy analyst for the Building Industry Assn. of Southern California.
He was one of 13 people to apply for the post.
Supervisor Paul Biane was voted Tuesday as the board’s new chairman and Supervisor Gary Ovitt as the vice chairman.
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